Cheese & Bacon Bush Damper [RECIPE]

What’s the best way to test out new camping cookware? In the backyard over an open fire pit.

When we purchased our 4.5 Quart cast-iron camp oven, we searched for the ultimate damper recipe to practice our camp oven cooking before we actually went bush.

We stumbled upon this Cheese and Bacon Damper on YouTube, started the fire to get the coals hot, and sourced all ingredients from the cupboard – without needing to take a trip to the shops!

Cheese and Bacon Damper Recipe

Ingredients:

350 grams self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Salt and pepper

60g cheese

70g bacon

250g milk

40g butter

Note: we used much more cheese and bacon than the recipe suggests above, and discovered after cooking that a little more milk and butter would make it better.

Method:

Step 1

First step is to start the camp fire. Heat up the hot coals and the timber in an open fire pit, or start the fire near the campsite as you usually would. Make sure there are hot coals to place on the lid of the camp oven for later.

Step 2

The next step is to line the baking tray with greased foil. Make sure the tray will fit inside the camp oven.

Step 3

Combine the flour and butter in a bowl, and start pouring in the milk gradually. Keep mixing the dough with your hands or with a large spoon until there are no lumps. The dough should be sticky.

Step 4

Put extra flour on the bench (or clean surface of choice if outdoors) and start kneading the dough out flat.

Step 5

Get the cheese and bacon, and sprinkle over the top of the flattened dough.

Step 6

Roll the dough over the toppings into the shape of a log. Slice the damper into even sized pieces.

Step 7

Place the slices of damper into the foiled lined baking tray. Then sprinkle some extra cheese and bacon over the top.

Step 8

The damper is ready to be placed in the fire. Put some hot coals on the top of the camp oven lid. Leave in the fire pit for roughly 17 minutes.

We left ours in for 23 minutes because we thought we should give it extra time – don’t do this. It will burn.